


Dummy Likes Bruce Best (That's Okay, So Does Tony)

by celtic7irish



Series: Avengers and AIs [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 18:13:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2517137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celtic7irish/pseuds/celtic7irish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a gentle click as the door to the lab opened, and Tony looked up with a wide grin.  “Bruce!” he greeted the other man, who entered the room cautiously, as if he was afraid he’d break something.  Next to him, Dummy chirped happily, whirring over to roll in circles around the other scientist like an overgrown puppy while Bruce eyed him bemusedly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dummy Likes Bruce Best (That's Okay, So Does Tony)

“Dummy, no, what are you - ? No, you know what, never mind.  I don’t want to know.  Really.  Just hold still, that’s all I’m asking.  Why is that so difficult for you?  Don’t.  Move.”  There was a brief pause, followed by a loud clatter and a resigned sigh.  “Seriously, Dummy?  Did you have to move right then and there?  Did you?”  A low whirr, followed by some soft beeps, and then the distinctive sound of a forehead colliding with a tabletop.  “I give up,” Tony moaned.

 

 _“Sir, might I suggest that perhaps asking You to hold the wiring would be a less…disastrous alternative?”_   JARVIS’ soothing voice followed, and Tony groaned, pushing half-heartedly at Dummy’s arm, which had nudged closer to him in inquiry, his claw clicking curiously.  _“Sir, Dummy would like to know if you want a smoothie.”_

Tony huffed a laugh, unable to help himself, even though he knew he shouldn’t be encouraging the bot.  “No, I don’t want a smoothie,” he told Dummy. “What I want is to get this wiring sorted so I can fix the repulsor beams in my gauntlet.  All you had to do was stay still.  What part of that do you not understand?” he demanded, his tone more resigned than angry.  Dummy had been aptly named, but Tony had never bothered to fix his core programming, even when he’d had the opportunity to do so, most notably following the destruction of his Malibu home.

 

There was a gentle click as the door to the lab opened, and Tony looked up with a wide grin.  “Bruce!” he greeted the other man, who entered the room cautiously, as if he was afraid he’d break something.  Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes; this was his workshop.  There was no delicate equipment here.  Well, in a manner of speaking.  Everything in here was designed for engineering, so Bruce didn’t have to worry about delicate arrays and breakable glass.  As long as he didn’t Hulk out and go crazy smashing things, everything would be fine.

 

Next to him, Dummy chirped happily, whirring over to roll in circles around the other scientist like an overgrown puppy while Bruce eyed him bemusedly.  Tony hid his grin behind his hand, and pushed down the little spark of jealousy when Bruce reached out to pat Dummy hesitantly on the top of his arm.  Dummy beeped in delight before zooming back across the workshop floor towards Tony, nearly bowling the billionaire over as he rolled into him.

 

“Ow, Dummy,” Tony whined, scowling.  The pout faded a moment later when Bruce gave an aborted chuckle, and he smiled brightly at the other man, half-heartedly pushing Dummy away.  “What’s up?” he asked instead, always eager to hear about the other man’s work.  Bruce worked with tools and instruments and variables that Tony had never seen before, and it never ceased to amaze him.  When the other man came into his labs willingly, it usually meant that he needed help, and Tony knew that he’d drop whatever else he was doing in an instant to go putter around in Bruce’s lab for hours on end.

 

Bruce shook his head.  “Ah, nothing, actually,” he admitted with a sardonic twist of his lips.  “My last experiment sort of blew up and sent noxious fumes everywhere.  JARVIS is venting it out now.”

 

Tony eyed Bruce intently for a moment, but the other man didn’t appear to be injured or anything.  Just to make sure, he asked, “You’re all right?”

 

Bruce nodded.  “Yes, I wasn’t actually in the lab at the time,” he admitted, then frowned.  “Really, it shouldn’t have exploded like that.  I isolated the chlorine trifluoride, and none of the other components should have reacted explosively with each other.”

 

Tony just stared at him for a moment with his mouth open.  “You…what were you doing with chlorine trifluoride in the first place?” he demanded, completely bewildered.  “Were you trying to make a nuclear fuel processor or what?”

 

Bruce blinked at him, then shook his head with an exasperated sigh.  “No, Tony, I was not trying to make a nuclear fuel processor.  I wouldn’t even know where to begin to build something like that,” he pointed out.  “I was simply attempting to see if it could hurt the other guy.  It ignites on human skin and other tissue on contact, producing hydrochloric and hydrofluouric acid.  But I’m not sure that the other guy’s hide actually works like human skin.”

 

Tony frowned, pretty sure he was missing something. “Okay,” he drawled out, making the word several syllables long, “and how were you planning on testing that?”  Bruce just gave him a look, and Tony scowled.  “That’s stupid,” he argued.  “Even Dummy agrees with me, right, buddy?” he asked.

 

Dummy lifted his head up to look at Bruce and gave a series of menacing whirs and beeps.  “See?” Tony demanded triumphantly, “even Dummy agrees with me!”

 

Bruce just rolled his eyes, patting Dummy soothingly on his arm strut.  The bot preened under the attention, chirping merrily as he rocked back and forth, his previous scolding already forgotten.  “The military has been working on weapons using chlorine trifluoride.  I’d really rather not test whether or not it works while in the middle of trying not to be captured.”

 

Tony was still scowling.  “There’s no way Ross is getting to you,” he argued.  “He has to go through SHIELD first.  And then, he has to get past me.  My lawyers have been bored lately – not enough scandals on my part – and would love to take a crack at the bastard.  Stir things up a bit.”

 

Bruce offered him a tentative, wondering smile for that, and Tony had to forcibly remind himself that the man standing before him was so used to having to solve his problems on his own, to not having back up or support, to not having anybody there who could – and would – protect him with everything they had.

 

Dummy was leaning his head against Bruce, practically nuzzling his chest, and the curly-haired scientist was patting him awkwardly, which only made Dummy lean harder into him.  “Dummy, get down!” Tony snapped at the bot.  “Bruce doesn’t need you bowling him over.”

 

Dummy made a rude noise, and Tony’s eyes widened before narrowing as he stood up and stalked across the room.  “That’s it,” he growled, his eyes narrowed menacingly.  “You come here right now, or so help me, I’ll strip you down to a pile of scraps, you stupid bucket of bolts!”  Dummy squeaked and wheeled away, behind Bruce, who twisted around awkwardly to look at the bot cowering behind him.

 

Tony stopped in front of the other man and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at the bot.  “He’s not going to protect you, you know,” he said at last.

 

Bruce was looking back and forth between them.  Dummy lifted his head and whirred sadly.  Tony watched as Bruce melted.  “No, no, dammit, Bruce!  You’re seriously going to take his side?” he demanded incredulously.

 

Bruce shrugged.  “Sorry, Tony,” he apologized.  Behind him, Dummy clicked happily, his claw plucking excitedly at Bruce’s coat.  The doctor blinked down at him.  “Yes?” he asked politely, using the same tone he used when he was humoring Tony.  The billionaire scowled, glaring heatedly at his bot, who was ignoring him in favor of tugging Bruce towards his brothers, beeping and whirring cheerfully.  Tony was pretty sure that if Dummy could actually talk, or make facial expressions, he’d be gloating right about now.  It really wasn’t fair, that his own creation liked Bruce more than him.

 

Tony watched bemusedly as Dummy brought Bruce over to his two younger brothers, JARVIS helping translate for the bots.  He knew that he was probably staring dopily at his makeshift family, but he couldn’t help himself.  It still amazed him how easily Bruce had fit in to his life here.

 

Following the Battle of New York, Tony had persuaded Bruce to come back to the Tower with him with the tantalizing promise of ten floors dedicated solely to Research and Development, and the promise of both time and resources to work on whatever projects or research he wanted to do, without anybody hovering over his shoulder or chasing him down. 

 

Tony, of course, would invade his lab at least once a day, not that Bruce seemed to mind terribly much.  And slowly, over time, Bruce had opened up, had told him bits and pieces of his life since becoming the Hulk.  Tony was under no delusions. He knew that Bruce was barely even scratching the surface of what he’d been through, but he knew better than to push.

 

The first time Tony had brought Bruce to his personal lab in the newly dubbed Avengers Tower, the mild-mannered physicist had spent several hours admiring the bots, completely oblivious to the actual reason Tony had dragged him there in the first place.  Bruce had treated Dummy, Butterfingers, and You like they were people.  Non-verbal people, but still people, and with JARVIS’s willingness to translate, it hadn’t been an issue.

 

The bots – especially Dummy – had become just as besotted with Bruce as he was with them, and a new friendship had been born.  Tony loved his bots, who had been with him for most of his life, but he couldn’t help the pangs of jealousy that sparked inside when Bruce’s attention was diverted away from him.  Not that he begrudged Bruce spending time with the bots and humoring them.  He had promised that Bruce would never be made to do anything he didn’t want to do while he was here, and he meant that.  And if Bruce wanted to spend hours with Dummy, playing catch or watching him stumble clumsily around the lab, then so be it.

 

With a sigh, he turned back to the gauntlet he had been working on before Bruce had wandered in, quickly separating the wires now that he didn’t have a clumsy bot making it take five times as long.  He bent over his work, carefully ignoring what was happening on the other side of the lab.  Occasionally, he’d mutter instructions to JARVIS, who would obligingly flash diagnostics onto the nearby screens.

 

He had the gauntlet on his hand, testing the thrust power to make sure it wasn’t going to throw him off balance in the air, when a hand landed on his shoulder.  Startled, he swung around, his arm coming up in an attack pose, the repulsor whining as it powered up.  He found himself staring into wide brown eyes, Bruce’s hands up in a gesture of surrender.  “Ah, Tony?” he asked uneasily.  “Would you mind lowering your arm? The other guy doesn’t really appreciate the threat.”  His eyes were flashing uneasily between green and brown, and Tony could see the other man regulating his breathing.

 

He dropped his hand, tearing off the gauntlet and throwing it onto the table like it had burned him.  Behind him, Dummy was beeping frantically.  “Dummy, chill out,” Tony snapped vaguely, keeping his eyes on the man standing across from him, his eyes close and his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.  “Sorry about that, Bruce,” he apologized, chagrined.  “You startled me.  Won’t happen again.”  And it wouldn’t; Tony would have JARVIS ping him or something before anybody touched him if he was lost in his work.

 

Bruce shook his head and smiled weakly at Tony.  “No, I’m afraid that one was my fault,” he confessed.  “I know better than to sneak up on someone when they’re engrossed in something, especially if that someone has a weapon in their hand.”

 

Dummy had calmed down a bit by that point, and was now rolling back and forth on his treads, waiting to see what was going to happen next.  But he didn’t settle down until Bruce murmured, “It’s okay, Dummy.”  Abruptly, Dummy’s head lowered and he powered down, waiting for instructions. 

 

Tony did his best to hide the flash of hurt that he felt pass across his face, smoothing it out an instant later into something more passive.  Bruce, however, was far too observant, and noticed.  Of course he had.  “Tony?  What’s wrong?” he asked softly, concerned now.  “Did you hurt yourself removing the gauntlet?”

 

Tony looked down at his hand instinctively, as if it would give him the answers he needed.  “Huh,” he commented.  “Would you look at that?” He tilted his hand to show Bruce that there was indeed a long, jagged cut on the back of his hand from where one of the loose wires had sliced into him when he’d removed the glove in such a hurry.

 

Bruce sighed, his hands reaching out and gripping Tony’s hand and wrist gently, warm but firm as he examined the wound.  “It’s long, but not particularly deep.  First aid kit?”  He didn’t even bother to ask if Tony had one; all of the labs had a basic kit.  Accidents happened, and most of them simply weren’t worth leaving the lab for.

 

There was the clack of wheels over the floor, and then Dummy was there, holding out a first aid kit eagerly.  Bruce took it from him with a quiet thanks, and Dummy’s head swung around to look at Tony, drooping a bit.  If Tony didn’t know better, he’d think the bot was upset.  “It’s fine, Dummy,” he murmured reassuringly.  “Just a small cut. I’ve done worse with the soldering iron.”  He still had the shiny burn scars to prove it, too.

 

Dummy just chirped and pressed his head into Tony’s shoulder.  Fortunately for all of them, he picked the one that Bruce wasn’t working on, so Bruce could simply shift his hand to the side as he cleaned and disinfected the injury before bandaging it.  Tony tried to pull away when Bruce started wrapping it, figuring that it would be fine with some gauze and a Band-Aid wrapped on top of it, but Bruce just held on more tightly.  “Dummy?” he asked.

 

Tony’s eyes widened as Dummy used his clawed hand to grasp Tony’s elbow tightly.  The grip was gentle enough not to hurt him, but firm enough that he knew there was no way he was going to be able to pull out of it easily.  “Traitor,” he muttered to Dummy, who hooted indignantly back at him.

 

Bruce smiled.  “He worries about you, you know,” he murmured.  “Every time I wander in here, he talks about you.”  Tony stared down at the top of Bruce’s head where it was bent over his hand, swallowing hard.

 

“He does?” he asked, his voice more hoarse than he would’ve liked.

 

Bruce glanced up at him and smiled.  “Of course he does,” he said, amusement coloring his tone.  “You’re his father.”

 

Dummy chirped in agreement next to him, his head bumping lightly into Tony’s, making him wince at the impact.  Lightly for Dummy wasn’t exactly gentle.  He frowned at the bot.  “Are you kidding me?” he demanded in mock-outrage.  “You tell Bruce about all the stupid shit I get up to?”  There was no point in denying that he had probably done every last thing Dummy had told Bruce about, so he didn’t bother.  “And here I thought you were just happy to have another lab rat around who wasn’t me.”  He wasn’t sulking; he _wasn’t_.  Well, okay, maybe a little bit, but he was pretty sure he’d earned the right to sulk by this point.

 

Bruce chuckled, checking the wrappings one more time before releasing Tony’s hand and tapping on Dummy’s strut.  The bot released Tony immediately, and the genius rubbed his elbow gingerly, still glaring at his first AI.  Dummy whirred anxiously and zipped backwards, hiding his huge body behind the thinner Bruce, and Tony snorted.

 

“Uh huh. I see how it is.  You tell him all that crap for sympathy, don’t you?” he demanded drolly.  It wasn’t really a question.  Dummy didn’t answer, and Tony just shook his head, a wry smile tugging at his mouth.  He gave up. 

 

Throwing an arm around Bruce’s shoulders, Dummy hovering over them, he pulled the poor man over towards his work table.  “Well, since you’re here anyhow, let me show you what I’ve been working on.”

 

Fine, Dummy could like Bruce best, he decided as the ruffled scientist settled next to him on the workbench, oohing over his awesome designs as Dummy stuck his clawed appendage between them, picking at random parts and generally being a nuisance.  Tony really couldn’t fault him, even as he threatened to donate Dummy to the local college.

 

After all, he liked Bruce best, too.


End file.
